CVE-2007-1038 in Grabit
Summary
by MITRE
Shemes.com Grabit 1.5.3, and possibly earlier, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a .nzb file with a subject field containing ; (semicolon) characters. NOTE: the provenance of this information is unknown; the details are obtained solely from third party information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/20/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-1038 affects Shemes.com Grabit version 1.5.3 and potentially earlier releases, representing a denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely through manipulation of .nzb file subject fields. This issue demonstrates a classic input validation flaw where the application fails to properly handle semicolon characters within the subject metadata of newsgroup files, leading to application instability and potential system unavailability.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate parsing and sanitization of user-supplied data within the .nzb file processing pipeline. When the Grabit application encounters a subject field containing semicolon characters, the parsing logic becomes corrupted, causing the application to crash or become unresponsive. This represents a buffer overflow or parsing error condition that can be systematically triggered by crafting malicious .nzb files with specific semicolon placements in their subject headers. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and requires no special privileges to exploit, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by remote attackers without authentication.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for users relying on Grabit for newsgroup file retrieval and management. The denial of service condition can result in complete application unavailability, forcing users to restart the service manually and potentially losing access to downloaded content. Network administrators face the challenge of maintaining service availability when such vulnerabilities are present in widely-used software packages, particularly in environments where automated downloads and file processing are critical operations. The vulnerability can be exploited through various means including malicious newsgroup postings, automated file distribution systems, or compromised third-party sources that distribute .nzb files.
The weakness aligns with CWE-129, Input Validation, and CWE-121, Stack-based Buffer Overflow, demonstrating how improper handling of special characters can lead to system instability. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to the ATT&CK technique T1499.004, Network Denial of Service, and represents a form of application-level attack that can be executed with minimal technical expertise. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including software updates to patched versions, input filtering mechanisms, and network segmentation to limit exposure. The vulnerability underscores the importance of robust input validation and proper error handling in file processing applications, particularly those handling metadata from untrusted sources. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be implemented to identify similar weaknesses in other file processing components within the network infrastructure.